It still has a ways to go and prices have picked up but I don't see how Seattle workers can ignore the value especially where Seattle and king county taxes are going and the mess that is the Seattle city clownsule

Sorry for my ignorance.

The “city” isn’t the ignorant/desperate seller you are usually looking for.....their agreement will likely require some substantial non refundable deposit and likely require you show the ability to buy.

The best he can hope for is to plead ignorance; blame the contractor, and hope he only gets charged for the water that has been used and not being fined in addition to usage.  

Even ignoring the 'theft' risks, you have gift tax return exposure (and use of lifetime exemption), transfer taxes, no basis step up involved with gifting the property back and forth, probate risks if the 'buddy' passes away and didn't update their will for the property. 

Still learning the ropes here, so forgive my ignorance if I left out any pertinent details.

She no longer responds to my questions right away like she used to and sometimes ignores them altogether.

If you do want to get involved in some calculations you could try to figure out the time value of money against its current net worth with the income the home is generating.Or ignoring the complex math problems, a good rule of thumb is if you can make 10X the yearly cash flow when selling, consider offloading the property and investing in another.Cheers! 

Landlord 411 or the small developers cooperative are two examples in the Baltimore area.It amazes me how investors are so ignorant of  how many stupid counter productive laws get proposed.

Ignore the hate and keep striving.